Ahead of our trip to the Etihad Stadium, this Sunday, we took time out to talk to Skoorb from the Vital Manchester City site, see what you think.
1 – Following in our footsteps of being owned by a cash-laden owner, how does it feel?
Well it certainly feels better than when we struggling along relying on loans from Board members like John Wardle, living from ‘hand to mouth’ and being unsure if player wages would be paid. We have come a long way in a very short time thanks to our owner and it has been a roller coaster ride for sure.
We are very much looking forward to the evolution of the Etihad Campus which should help provide solid foundation for the youth development and which indicates the long term nature of the owner’s commitment. Despite the pressure from UEFA and the Premier League’s FFP ‘let’s close ranks to maintain the status quo’ plans, overall I’d rather be where we are now than where we would have been had we lost the 1999 Play Off Final.
2 – Looking ahead to our fixture this Sunday, what have been your best and worst memories of fixtures between us and yourselves?
The best memory in most recent years was the 2-4 City win at Stamford Bridge nearly three years ago especially Craig Bellamy’s goal. We hadn’t scored at the Bridge for the previous seven seasons let alone had a sniff of a win so to pull off that result was very satisfying. The worst memory is the 6-0 defeat in the 2007/08 season when Sven was our manager. There is nothing worse for a supporter than to see your team so comprehensively outplayed and getting thoroughly stuffed. Overall it is good to feel that we no longer enter these contests as automatic underdogs.
3 – One for the imagination here! If you had to select a combined Chelsea and Manchester City side, with a 6:5 ratio, what would your starting eleven be?
Tough choices for sure and bound to cause some controversy but here goes with reasons coming later:-
Cech; Zabaleta; Kompany; Cahill; Cole; Milner; Silva; Lampard; Mata; Aguero; Ba.
How did I get this eleven?
I started with my top 4 City players – Zabaleta is in top form and likely to be our player of the season. Love his attitude and wish we could distil it. Kompany – great leader and oozes class; Silva – the magician, great touch and vision; Aguero – superb striker. The fifth one gave me a massive dilemma of course. I would have loved to opt for Clichy who I think is often underrated, and likewise Dzeko who knows where the goal is if he gets the right service but in the interests of balance I opted for James Milner whose work rate is a great asset to any team.
So to fill in the blanks Cech was an obvious choice, I opted for Cahill who can deliver some goals and Cole. I debated Lampard vs Yaya Toure for a while but Frank scores a lot of goals and sometimes Yaya’s ‘effort’ drives me up the wall. Mata again offers goals and qualities not unlike David Silva. So I was left with a Chelsea striker to pick and I opted for Ba in preference to Torres who’s form is a bizarre mystery and Moses who I haven’t seen enough of.
Conspicuous by their absence might be David Luis who feels like an accident waiting to happen especially in defence and Samir Nasri, City’s own version of the invisible man. Might not even have them on my bench!
4 – Exiting the Champions League early again, what are your thoughts on the competition and also our success last season?
Bring back the old format I say! City got stuffed with 2 very tough groups and failed by the skin of their teeth to qualify for the knockout rounds last season. Ten points would have been enough in 6 of the previous 7 competitions. This just reinforced the message that the structure is about reinforcing the status quo and generating income for UEFA and the established top European clubs – can’t have them knocked out too early can we? But it is still great to be even talking about participating.
Chelsea did brilliantly in defeating Barcelona and toughed it out to bring the trophy back home against difficult odds by beating Bayern in their home stadium. Not classic encounters but history will record only the winners. I felt for De Matteo though as despite pulling off this triumph for the club probably knew he was on thin ice even as the trophy was lifted.
5 – Here at Stamford Bridge, we have our own thoughts about our own ‘interim` managers future, what are your thoughts on Roberto Mancini? Has his tenure run its course?
No I don’t think so. He has brought success to the wilderness that was our trophy cabinet, delivered hope where there was only ‘typical City’ and developed a team, which when firing on all cylinders is great to watch. A great change from the old days. I have also had quite enough of the ‘revolving door’ policy where our manager is concerned. I watched with interest this last week as the media feeding frenzy switched from Mancini to Wenger. Desperate for a victim they smelt blood and so easily switched from vacuous, idle speculation and spin about Mancini’s future to their next ‘wounded animal’ in North London. Honestly, they remind me of a pack of hyenas and I despise most of them. But I digress……
6 – And finally, a predicted score for Sunday`s fixture?
With a few exceptions these fixtures are usually close affairs and with a lot at stake for both clubs I can’t see that changing. Much might turn on who scores first. Chelsea’s away form has been decent but I can still see City taking the spoils and come out on top – City 2 Chelsea 1
Our thanks got to Skoorb at Vital Manchester City for taking the time out to answer our questions.
Share this article
